PG Astrays- WIP 4

Another set feet?

2 BanDai feet were completed in previous post. Now is time to work on the other 2 feet by Daban. The inner frame will be the same color except for the pipes and thrusters. By doing it this way, I will be able to differentiate between the two models without keeping them in separate boxes. The color of the armor will also be different. I have decided to go with the Blue Frame because I already have the TA ready. Suggestions are still welcome until I start painting the armor.

Ran into some minor fitting issues while assembling the feet. The pieces are hard to snap together. They do go well together once they are in place. Just need to use a bit of force to close them properly. Also make sure that the parts assembled are correct else you will have a fun time trying to disassemble them.

23 parts for the feet

Mentioned in the previous post, I need to sand the front of the foot armor to avoid it from scraping off the paint. The same issue will occur for the Daban model since it is a copy of BanDai but what I didn't anticipate was how extensively I had to sand. The inner frame of the foot prevents the front piece of the armor to move back to original position after bending.

Inner frame and foot armor touching

To solve this issue, I had to sand off a lot of the plastic. While I was happily sanding and testing out the result, I did not notice that I sanded off too much. The plastic was too thin and created a crack. Luckily for me this is the part of the foot where no one will pay attention to or see.

 

Thin plastic due to over sanding

 

After sanding and cleaning up all the dust from the piece, they are put on alligator clips and sent to be painted. Process is the same method in WIP 3. Prime>spray>top coat.

 

Parts of the feet inner frame after spraying

 

The 'piston' was tricky to put in. Lots of force is required and since the part is moveable, when you push it too much, the part will move and the 'piston' will pop out and go flying.

 

Piston to be inserted into the ball joint

 

Pistons after assembly

 

Once the pistons are in place the rest of the assembly is straight forward and hassle free. The inner frame is assembled first before the black armor pieces. Details are also added in such as the color of the thrusters, pipes and panel lining.

 

Thrusters painted blue to differentiate from BanDai

 

Pipings painted blue instead of red

 

I won't be using the decals provided by Daban. Since I'll most likely be doing a Blue Frame, I'm considering getting the PG Blue Frame waterslides from SamuelDecal.

 

Armor parts for the feet

 

The armor parts of the feet are painted except for one. That part will be painted clear blue. Because I did not think I would be doing 2 PGs at once, I did not manage to pick up the clear blue paint earlier. I guess I will have to come back to that piece later.

 

After completing the Daban feet, a little comparison can be made between BanDai and Daban. BanDai kit is on the right and Daban is on the left.

 

 Top and bottom view

 

 Side view

 

As can be seen from the pictures above, there are not much difference between the details of the 2 kits. The details for both kits are the same. So far the only difference for me is during the assembly of the feet. Assembly for Daban requires more strength for the parts to lock together whereas BanDai is a breeze.

 

Next up are the legs but I think I will split it into 2 different sections. They will be split into the upper and lower legs. All that is up in the next post so stay tuned.